During the War
Servicemen's Perception During the War Some American soldiers committed themselves to military service because they sought to aid in the ideological struggle against totalitarianism, the murder of civilians, and genocide. Still, many World War II servicemen describe a far less romantic or moral sense of purpose. War veteran and historian Paul Fussell reflects, "To get home you had to end the war. To end the war was the reason you fought it. The only reason." In stark contrast to familiar portrayals of battlefield glory and patriotic sacrifice, many infantrymen were driven by the longing for family and for the comforts of home, and the desire to return to a normal life in America. Society's Perception During the War Everyone agreed that the sacrifices were for the national good "for the duration." The labor market changed radically. Peacetime conflicts with respect to race and labor took on a special dimension because of the pressure for national unity. The Hollywood film industry was important for propaganda. Every aspect of life from politics to personal savings changed when put on a wartime footing. This was achieved by tens of millions of workers moving from low to high productivity jobs in industrial centers. Millions of students, retirees, housewives, and unemployed moved into the active labor force. Hours worked increased as leisure activities declined sharply. Propaganda and Pop Culture Words, posters, and films waged a constant battle for the hearts and minds of the American citizenry just as surely as military weapons engaged the enemy. Persuading the American public became a wartime industry, almost as important as the manufacturing of bullets and planes. The Government launched an aggressive propaganda campaign with clearly articulated goals and strategies to galvanize public support, and it recruited some of the nation's foremost intellectuals, artists, and filmmakers to wage the war on that front. Popular Culture such as Movies and Radio were also used to encourage the people to get behind the war effort. Radio By 1940, radio had become a mass medium. Almost 80 percent of the households in the U.S. owned a radio. Yet before the war, only seven percent of the airtime was devoted to news. By the end of the war, 25 percent of the airtime was news, and audiences had been transported to the battlefront in live and recorded reports. You can read a transcript of Edward R. Murrow's 1943 night bombing raid over Berlin here. The desperate need for news spurred additional radio set sales despite a cutback in production because of wartime rationing. Movies One of the earliest WWII films from Hollywood celebrated one of the first American war victories, the "Doolittle Raid." Pearl Harbor had been devastating to morale. Five months later, 16 B-25 bombers under the command of Gen. Jimmy Doolittle bombed Tokyo. They did more psychological damage than military destruction, but it was America's first triumph. One of the pilots, Richard Joyce, was from Lincoln. In 1944, the raid was celebrated in a major motion picture "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" starring Spencer Tracy. Soon, the content of the features caught up with the content of the newsreels that started each evening's entertainment at the local movie palace. World War II pictures became a major genre of Hollywood film. During the 1940s, WWII movies tended to fall into three categories. * Combat action films like "Flying Tigers," "Guadalcanal Diary," "Objective, Burma!" and "Wake Island." *Personal stories of individuals facing life and death situations in the face of the war. "Casablanca" is perhaps the best example of this genre with nightclub owner Rick struggling unsuccessfully to stay out of the war. Immediately after the war, "The Best Years of Our Lives" told the stories of several veterans struggling to pick up their civilians lives. *Documentaries were also produced by some of Hollywood's best talents. Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series is perhaps the best of this genre. *Cartoon characters sold war bonds, flew planes, built bombs and even warned recruits about the dangers they were going to be facing.